#SaveTheInternet Campaign Generates 1.3 Lakh+ Email Responses To TRAI. Govt To Look Into Airtel Zero!
Airtel’s menacing plan to kill the neutrality of the Internet in India has prompted huge protests and agitation from all over the country. As per reports coming in, over 1.3 lakh emails have been sent to TRAI in less than 48 hours, objecting the proposed moves by Airtel and such has been the intensity of protests that Govt. is now considering to look into Airtel Zero plan.
Even Bollywood has now come out to support the movement called #SaveTheInternet.
Government Will Look into Airtel Zero
Times of India reported that Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will look into the anti-net neutrality plans offered by Airtel, and will give their recommendations to the Government.
A top official from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, of which DoT is a part, said, “DoT is looking into finer details and whether it goes against the spirit of net neutrality,”
After growing concerns that PM Modi’s much acclaimed Digital India Vision will take a severe beating if Airtel Zero comes into existence, high profile Member of Parliament (MP) Tathagata Satpathy and Rajeev Chandrasekhar have openly voiced their concern against such move.
Now, a committee has been formed by the Ministry of Communication to provide their feedback into this proposed move to charge differently for differently Internet based services and portals.
Last year in December, when some telecom operators attempted to charge such discriminatory charges for OTTs like WhatsApp and Viber, TRAI had refused to give their acceptance. But now, it seems they are in agreement with the telecom players, and this is the reason that DoT had to intervene.
DoT runs in parallel with TRAI in monitoring telecom services and plans in the country, and they have almost equal powers in accepting or rejecting any move which is against the public interest.
And Airtel Zero is certainly hugely anti-public and against the free spirit of the Internet.
Bollywood Comes out to Support #SaveTheInternet Campaign
After AIB released a video explaining the demerits of Airtel’s proposed plan, and sought support to save Internet, Bollywood stars have come out to support the movement.
Shahrukh Khan tweeted this video, which has received more than 2k retweets.
Farhan Akhtar tweeted the image, asking all to help save Internet.
Please give 30 seconds of your time to do this. http://t.co/3yon58LEoa #SaveTheInternet #NetNeutralityIndia
— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) April 12, 2015
Other Bollywood stars who have joined the campaign are:
Sonakshi Sinha ; Sidharth Malhotra ; Varun Dhawan ; Ayushmann Khurana ; Arjun Kapoor ; Alia Bhatt ; Parineeti Chopra ; Riteish Deshmukh ; Bipansha Basu ; Aditi Rao ; Richa Chadha and more.
With mainstream Bollywood stars jumping into the campaign, more and more awareness would be created and we hope that more people send their emails to TRAI.
1.3 Lakh+ Emails Sent to TRAI
Kiran Jonnalagadda, who along with Nikhil Pahwa from MediaNama created the website revealed that more than 1 lakh emails have been sent to TRAI, especially after the AIB awareness video, and the launch of their website.
Here is a Facebook quote from him:
As per separate campaign by TOI, over 25000 emails had been sent to TRAI where users are strongly protesting this move by Airtel, which can be soon followed by other telecom players.
You can check out this list of 20 answers, which can be copied and sent to TRAI. These list of answers had been created by Nikhil and Kiran after consulting lawyers, and puts the pointers in a brilliant way.
All you need to do is copy the answers, sent them to [email protected] and bcc at [email protected].
